Russia Squelches Trump’s New Plan to Invade Syria

Eric Zuesse

On Friday, August 31st, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that Russia has handed to the OPCW (Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons), and to the U.N., “proof” that the U.S. Government has been working with Al Qaeda to set up a chemical incident in Syria. The U.S. and its allies will then use that incident as a supposed justification for invading Syria as a ‘humanitarian’ response to a chemical attack allegedly by Syria’s Government, but actually done by U.S.-backed forces. The goal is to re-ignite the 7-year-old ‘civil war’ between Syria’s Government and U.S.-backed ‘rebels’, who consist almost exclusively of fundamentalist-Sunni jihadists that are trained and led by Al Qaeda in Syria, with U.S. help and Saudi financing.

Reports are appearing that the Syrian Air Defense Forces (SADF) have already started preparing to repel an expected US-led missile strike by deploying additional specialists and air defense systems near the crucial objects of the infrastructure, which they expect may be targeted.

On August 22, US National Security Advisor John Bolton claimed that “if the Syrian regime uses chemical weapons, we will respond very strongly and they really ought to think about this a long time.”

This was only one of a series of threats to the Syrian government issued by the US, the UK and France. While all these threats are clearly exploiting the chemical weapons narrative, their main goal is to prevent the defeat of the terrorists in Idlib by delaying the Syrian Army operation.

On August 25, a source close to the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) told the Kurdish news outlet Bas News that the US-led coalition began deploying radar stations at its bases in the governorates of al-Hasakah and Aleppo as part of a new plan to increase its control of Syrian airspace. The report pointed out the airbases in Kobani and Rmelan as places where the radars were installed.

Also on August 28th, the U.S.-backed Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that:

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights was informed by reliable sources that negotiations are underway between the Turkish intelligence services and between Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham [Syria’s Al Qaeda branch, formerly called “Al Nusra”], The Islamic Turkestani Party, and other jihadi groups, with the aim of reaching agreement and consensus for these factions to resolve themselves, where these endeavors coincide with accelerated preparations by the regime forces and their loyal fighters for the start of the grand battle of Idlib [the place to which the surrendered jihadists in Syria have been sent], through which the regime forces seek to control the province and other areas in its surroundings of Aleppo, Hama, and Latakia provinces, and the continuation of negotiation comes after the conflicted information about reaching consensus on this issue, where Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham and the rest of the groups continue to experience confusion among their leaders and members, as a section of which has agreed to the demands of the Turkish authorities to resolve themselves, while the larger section rejects this process and refuses to approve any of the Turkish terms within the Negotiations. …

[In the] Idlib battle, … Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham controls the largest part of Idlib province, and shares it with other 3 parties: the rebel and Islamic factions, the Islami Turkestani Party, and the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them.

The military operation to be conducted in Idlib province, … the regime forces and their allies have been significantly preparing over the past weeks, by bringing in thousands of members of their forces and loyal gunmen as well as hundreds of faction fighters who have recently joined the “reconciliation”, and hundreds of vehicles, armored vehicles, ammunition, and machinery….

Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham … is one of the renewed names of al-Nusra Front (al-Qaeda Organization in the Levant)…

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored the regime forces bringing more vehicles, members, materiel and ammunition, to these lines, and in conjunction with these mobilizations by the regime forces, the SOHR monitored on the 21st of August 2018 the leader of Al-Nusra Front (Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham) Abu Mohammad al-Julani, taking a military tour in the northern mountains of Lattakia, where al-Julani reviewed with a number of the commanders of the first and second rank in Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham, the members of Tahrir Al-Sham and the front lines.

Like other reports by U.S.-allied organizations, Syria’s Government is called “the regime” instead of “the Government,” and the jihadists (except for ISIS) are accepted as being the U.S. alliance’s boots-on-the-ground in Syria to ‘liberate’ the Syrian people from Syria’s Government.

A US Army colonel has accused RT of ‘ridiculous misinformation’ for reporting a Russian government suggestion that Islamic State is operating inside a US-controlled zone in Syria, despite the UN and NBC reporting the same.”

The US and its allies are preparing new airstrikes on Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said, adding that militants are poised to stage a chemical weapons attack in order to frame Damascus and provide a pretext for the strikes.

The attack would be used as a pretext for US, UK and French airstrikes on Syrian targets, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, Major General Igor Konashenkov said. USS ‘The Sullivans,’ an Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided missile destroyer, was already deployed to the Persian Gulf a couple of days ago, he added.

The destroyer has 56 cruise missiles on board, according to data from the Russian Defence Ministry. A US Rockwell B-1 Lancer, a supersonic bomber equipped with 24 cruise missiles, has also been deployed at the Qatari Al Udeid Airbase.

Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) and the Al-Qaeda proxy group Jabhat al-Nusra found quiet shelter in one of the biggest camps, Rukban, near the Syria-Jordan border. … The same refugee camp was listed in a recent UN Security Council’s Sanctions Monitoring Team report as one of the sources of IS reemergence. The same document reported that ISIS had been defeated in most of the Syrian Arab Republic during 2017, but ‘rallied in early 2018’ due to ‘loss of momentum’ by forces fighting in the east of Syria, where the US base is located.”

The Wikipedia article on “Rukban” opens by saying that its population is 75,000, and that:

Rukban … is an arid remote area near the extreme northeast of Jordan, close to the joint borders with Syria and Iraq. The area contains a refugee camp lying along the demilitarized berm between Jordan and Syria, a no man’s land.”

That would be an ideal place for the U.S. and its allies to be assembling the materials for what will be alleged to be a chemical weapons attack ‘by the Assad regime’. Rukban is located in Jordan, a U.S. ally, and adjoining Syria, of which the U.S. has been an enemy ever since first failing in 1949 to turn Syria into a land controlled by the Saud family, as Obama and now Trump are again trying to do.

I had reported, on August 25th, the history of this sort of operation by the U.S. Government, going back to 1949, and mentioning recent faked ‘chemical attacks’ set up by the U.S. Government working in conjuction with Al Qaeda in Syria. So: with that lengthy history as background, there exists very sound reason for Syria and its allies to be expecting now yet another invasion of Syiria by U.S.-and-allied missiles, to be ‘justified’ on the basis of lies.

The latest of America’s missile-invasions of Syria occurred back on 14 April 2018, allegedly in response to a Syrian Government ‘chemical weapons attack’ in the city of Douma, which had allegedly occurred on April 7th. Russia tried to get the U.N. Security Council to announce that no invasion of Syria should occur until after the OPCW would enter Douma and collect samples and testimony to determine whether any such attack had actually occurred; and, if so, who had done it. The U.S. blocked that proposal, and invaded on the 14th. Despite that, the OPCW rushed in, to examine Douma, even after the invasion. On April 18th, America’s jihadist allies in Douma shot at OPCW inspectors, who courageously continued their work, despite the U.S. Government’s repeated efforts to stop it. The OPCW’s findings have been kept secret, so that the public still doesn’t know what the evidence about that April 7th matter actually showed.

That effort by Trump failed; so, the only path forward for him on Syria now is a U.S. invasion, but this one will have to be much larger than the last one, which was done on April 14th, and in which UK and France also supplied a few of the 100+ missiles. Perhaps, if the U.S. does that, Russia will this time target and maybe destroy some U.S. planes and warships. Then, the question would be whether to go to all-out nuclear war, over the Syrian matter and, of course, over America’s other excuses for its aggressions against Russia and its allies, such as America’s 2014 conquest of Ukraine and turning that country over to nazis.

Perhaps these are the reasons why Russia is announcing clearly, ahead of time, that it won’t simply acquiesce if the U.S. tries this faked accusation against Syria, yet again. Perhaps things won’t be so easy, if there is a “next time” on this particular matter.

Canthama of SyrPer introductory remarks on the The Squelch strategy on 4/11, just before kickoff:

“As the Operation Idlib Dawn approaches the kick off, we will see a step change increase in air strikes in the frontline, ammo depots and logistic hubs. These large sorties will be accompanied by precision hits from cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, while artillery shelling will mark the main places where the advances will take place.

Important to note that the critical phase of this attack is to :
1) close the border with Turkey so al Qaeda/MB can not use the border to counter attack nor to scape.
2) open multiple fronts and spread the terrorists thin.

Once breakthroughs are reached, the terrorists’ collapse will be imminent due to sleeper cells and turncoat “moderats”, like in the south. Large areas will be locked up and reconciliation will take place there.

As of now, hundreds of innocent Syrians will be murdered by the terrorists in the attempt to scare the population and avoid mass desertion, unfortunately little can be done to save them until all NW is liberated.

On the other hand these executions will show the world that supporting terrorists is a very stupid thing. We know some high level leaders are trying their best to protect the Anglo-Zio-army of Muslin Brotherhood, but they will not succeed in saving them in Idlib.

“…hundreds of innocent Syrians will be murdered by the terrorists in an attempt to scare the population and avoid mass desertion…”. But, unfortunately, we all know who will be directly blamed for any such deaths.

I can’t believe the US’s hypocrisy, warning against an offensive by the Syrian and Russian forces purportedly in order to save thousands of innocent civilians, when you think of the death and destruction they delivered to Mosul and Raqqa in the name of conquering terrorists – the US and allies saw no need to avoid the ‘collateral’ deaths of civilians then. But of course we all know why the US sees the preservation of Idlib and its inhabitants to be so valuable: one, it protects the allies’ remaining proxy forces; two, whilst terrorist strongholds remain evident it sustains the US excuse for having an illegal presence in Syria; three, it provides the circumstances for a continuation of false flags in order to justify military attacks on the Syrian and Russian forces; four, it provides opportunities to further discredit Russia with a view to getting them thrown out of the UN. The list goes on and that is without even mentioning Iran.

One wonders if there has been a date set for this all to kick off and if that date might be 11th September?

It has all moved forward at such a rate that it is too late to roll back without serious loss of face.

It seems clear from this article that it will quickly move beyond Syrian borders and end up with all the adjacent countries involved. Maybe that is the plan, a last desperate throw of the dice in a major do or die grand finale?

All this over a few canisters of chlorine. Could you credit just how stupid we all are?

Perhaps when the gas is released, the whole area is erased by a major GRAD missile attack turning the whole area into rubble. Then it is up to the Coalition to declare a gas attack where no evidence exists.

There will be enough death and destruction from air strikes to get the Western media at boiling point with jihadi videos showing dead and injured children. The headlines are already written. The rebels yesterday blew up two major bridges alleging they might be routes in for the Syrian army. It means it’s that much harder for civilians to escape. The main jihadi group have called on all residents to take up arms and deploy on the defensive structures being built. Presumably it’s hard to say No to a fanatical terrorist. So the scene is set by the jihadis; a fight to the finish. Hopefully every poisonous terrorist is eliminated. China doesn’t want it’s terrorists returning nor does Russia. Turkey is clearly in a dilemma; it dare not risk the jihadis entering Turkey so it might also look at the jihadi defeat as in its interests? Only the US and France seem willing to extend the war in an effort to save their proxy army of jihadis. Maybe some could be deported to France?

It seems obvious to me that Idlib will be a very long drawn out war of attrition as each street slowly gets taken.

Civilians feature very low on the agenda being little more than human shields. As for the Geneva Convention or any other form of humane behaviour that disappeared long ago.

Some months ago, I read that when clearing out Douma that a large group of terrorists were whisked off by helicopter to points unknown, the rumour being that they were going to be located closer to the Russian border to stir up trouble there.

Skimming through the RT website I’ve just seen a news report from 31 August saying that “the newly appointed US Special Representative for Syria Engagement [there’s a euphemism if ever there were], James Jeffrey, is visiting Turkey, Jordan and Israel 1-4 September and will address [I think we know what that means!] Moscow’s tip on a false-flag chemical attack”. Now that has to be an indication that something is definitely imminent or, as someone suggested in comments on the RT website, he is there to find out who leaked the information.https://www.rt.com/newsline/437379-us-envoy-syria-chemical-attack/

I predict some kids will get killed in Idlib “by Assad” and then all hell will break loose in ME & Western MSM aided by some commenting fools in the blog sphere here and there…
Let the bombs and rockets fly on Damascus – no kids over there, just like in Pyongyang, Hanoi, Baghdad or Tripoli.

All based on an ancient myth narrated by a “man” who only heard of Jerusalem but never set foot there, but is believed till today by (ex-)desert nomads living unknowingly on top of many priceless underground treasures till Western Science pumped it out into black gold which made them all powerful for foreign Greedies.

“All based on an ancient myth narrated by a “man” who only heard of Jerusalem but never set foot there, but is believed till today by (ex-)desert nomads living unknowingly on top of many priceless underground treasures till Western Science pumped it out into black gold which made them all powerful for foreign Greedies.”

We in America are always ready to fall all over ourselves in thoughtlessly believing whatever the latest false-flag nonsense the crazoid psycho-boys in power have most lately come up with. No mystery that from conservative Americans to – (as Caitlin Johnstone refers to them)- the “rainbow flag on a reaper drone” progressive ‘resistance’- Americans simply can’t imagine “our side” willfully killing civilians for propaganda purposes. Amazing how completely out of touch with reality we are.

I often wonder to what extent the people of Western Europe realize that the CIA & NATO slaughtered scores of them through the 1960s, 1970’s, and into the 1980’s (usually with bombs) all with false-flag attacks designed to blame the left and help elect pro-U.S. status quo governments. I wonder is Operation Gladio ever discussed in Western European media, or is it simply another casualty of Orwell’s “memory hole?”

Here in the U.S. when I attempt to explain the basics of how Operation Gladio worked and what it did, you’d think I was telling my fellow Americans that I’m just visiting from another galaxy – from the looks I receive – and from the total inability of Americans to believe and find credible this history of absolute and complete moral corruption demonstrated by joint U.S. & NATO policies.

The U.S. create a blatant false-flag attack to justify war? Umm, that has always been exactly what we do. American’s believe the lie uncritically? Well of course! One would rather be thought of as “idiotic” and uniformed than be thought of as “unpatriotic” in the cultural wasteland I happen to inhabit.

Indeed, a question that needs to asked again and again:
Where are the reminders of the terror of Operation Gladio?

“The Italian Government released a 300 page report on Gladio Operations in 2000. The report, unsurprisingly said that, the massacres, bombings and military operations were planned and executed by men within the Italian Government and the American CIA.

“Former President of Italy, Francesco Cossiga, the man who revealed the existence of Gladio, told Italy’s most respected newspaper that the 911 attacks were run by the CIA and the Mossad.

“Cossiga said this was common knowledge amongst global intelligence agencies.”

Zeusse skirts around the elephant in the room, the hole in his map of Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Turkey, the Mediterranean, and everywhere else.

Sorry to harp on about this, but where is “israel” in this story? After all, some people believe “is” is IS, formerly ISIS. And “is” is blowing up stuff in this region. And “is” is interfering in US government.

Modern Israel is where it has always been, trying to grab – or better yet already, have grabbed for it: why waste such a valuable tradition – as much land in the old Transjordan up to the Euphrates as it can, as well as where it has more recently been going: then expanding that into a substantial “corridor” as far as the Tigris, the easier to reach Iran. And after that? No land mass is big enough to content Israel (as Nietzsche implied when he predicted Judaism to project itself into a European-based world power within the next century or two – but, hey, now that globalization has shrunk the world and thus spread the power of Christian-approved Jewish financiering, any first land mass will do as well: the important thing is to be patient, my son).

Also worth reading, in the context of this post by Zuesse, is Patrick Lawrence’s piece at Consortium Newshttps://consortiumnews.com/2018/08/30/the-trump-administrations-spoiler-foreign-policy/
It begins:
“It is not possible to speak of “Donald Trump’s foreign policy” for the simple reason one can never tell whether the president or his minders are running it. Contradictions, reversals, and turns-on-a-dime have abounded since Trump took office.

“But this administration’s strategy abroad has assumed a discernible shape in recent weeks, whoever may be managing it in any given context. Never mind “not a pretty picture.” This is a shameful picture….”

Alistair Crooke’s analysis at Strategic Culture should be read with this piece.https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2018/09/01/is-suez-event-being-prepared-for-syria.html
The thickest file in Washington is the one entitled Cheap Talk. And by far the biggest contribution to it comes from the neo-cons.
Up until now their message has been very simple- ‘we can bully the world so let’s do it.’
Now the underlying assumption, that the US is the dominant power and cannot be challenged, is untenable. But the neo-cons are wedded to a theory which is based on a US dominance which no longer exists except as a polite convention, a fiction maintained by Russian and Chinese diplomats.
Thus it is that the excrement is drifting towards the ceiling fan: the neo-cons and the fascist camarilla running Israel are preparing for an attack on Syria which, if it occurs, might very well lead to large numbers of casualties in Israel and a sudden stiffening of Eurasia’s resistance to NATO’s current campaign of pin prick provocations.
It is to be hoped that the current crisis, entirely born of the west’s irresponsible and suicidal sponsorship of wahhabi milittias, will end with the re-unification of the Syrian Republic and the development of some grown up thinking in western capitals, but I am not optimistic.
It was once said that nobody ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the American people. Something very similar might be said of the neo-cons, it would fit easily on their tombstone.

a propos Bevin’s view that August’s strategic cooperation plan, worked out between Batty Bolton of the AZC’s White House Office and Nutty Yahoo of its Jerusalem Office, is heading for self-inflicted pain; from SyrPer:

– “A leading Arab paper in Lebanon claimed that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Secretary-General of Hezbollah Seyed Hassan Nasrallah have made a new decision to effectively confront any West-led attack against Syria. “The decision might entail military actions beyond assessments in such ways that it could rattle Tel Aviv or one of the Persian Gulf littoral states’ capitals which hosts the joint operations room with the Israeli officers in Yemen war,” the Arabic-language al-Thabat reported on Saturday. It also quoted a western diplomat in Oman as saying that the Syrian defense system will likely this time target the fighter jets of the US and its allies, including Israel, in case of any new aggression against Syria. “In case of attack on Syria and violating the resistance front’s redlines, the decision made by Assad and Nasrallah will be put into force,” al-Thabat claimed. (Lebanese Paper: Assad, Nasrallah Make Unprecedented Decision to Respond to West’s Possible Attack, FarsNews [Iran], Sep 01, 2018)

[and]

– “Russia, Iran, Syria and Hamas have launched six steps to counter the US-Israeli plan to hit Iranian military targets in Syria, which National Security Adviser John Bolton finalized in Jerusalem two weeks ago. That plan is to strike Iran’s Al Qods Brigades and allied Shiite militia forces in Syrian and western Iraq, as DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources were first to reveal. The US and Israel agreed to provide each other with reciprocal air and military cover for their operations in Syria. This accord was first implemented on Aug. 23, when unidentified warplanes bombed a pro-Iranian Iraqi Shiite Khataib Hezballah convoy on the Syrian-Iraqi highway.

The Russian-backed Iranian-Syrian-Hamas alliance subsequently put together six counter-measures:

Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami arrived in Damascus with a large military delegation to sign expanded military cooperation pacts with Syrian ruler Bashar Assad. Israeli and American officials who initially made light of this event were forced to take a second look.
Iran was empowered by these accords to deepen its military grip on Syria, backed by the promise of Russian military and air cover modeled on the US-Israeli mutual commitment.
Tehran and Damascus agreed to retaliate for every US or Israel attack on Iran’s Al-Qods or Shiite militia forces in Syria in the same coin, i.e. by targeting US military forces posted east of the Euphrates Rive along the Syrian-Iraqi border, or IDF forces inside the Golan enclave. Al Qods chief Gen. Qassem Soleimani was put in charge of these operations.
Our exclusive sources also reveal that the new military pacts signed by Iran and Syria provide explicitly for three large Iranian bases to go up in Syria as hubs for the various Iranian command posts dispersed across the country; one outside Aleppo; a second between Damascus and the Israeli Golan fence and a third at a still undetermined location.
In the wake of these pacts, the United States, Russia, Iran and Israel are all engaged in military buildups in the Middle East and around Syria of intervention forces for a potential escalation.
The Americans have prepared major naval and air strength in the region capable of rapid responses, mainly with Tomahawk cruise missiles.

The Russians are massing a sea armada opposite the Syrian coast. Fresh arrivals on Friday, Aug. 31, raised the number of warships to 24.

Syrian air defense networks are on the highest war alert since early this week. The IDF’s presence in northern Israel has been beefed up and the troops placed on high alert.

On Friday, Iran said it had supplied allied Iraqi Shiite militias with ground-to-ground missiles with ranges of between 200km and 700km. From Western Iraq, meaning Anbar, where [Iranian general] Soleimani has concentrated a large force, these missiles can reach Tel Aviv; and from southern Iraq, the Saudi capital of Riyadh. The senior US allies in the region [namely Israel and Saudi Arabia] are therefore under fresh Iranian missile threat from Iraq.
…
U.S.-NATO-Israel-allied preparations to escalate hostilities (aggression against Syria including Iranian and Hezbollah targets within Syria) employing a false flag operation … is being met with agreements between Syria, Hezbollah and Iran that constitute a credible deterrent. The U.S.-NATO-Israel-allied bloc may still proceed with their planned aggression however reports indicate if they were to, they would suffer painful consequences.

I am wondering if there is a scenario in reality or contrived the USA will get in trouble in Syria…. blaming Iranians which will provide the excuse for both Israel and USA to directly target Iran(and Syrian forces saying they are Iranian)…hence build up in USA forces north east Syria…..Jeffreys visiting Nety…….planning it all …….?

The US has been responsible for untold suffering and destruction for the last 60 years at least. It has nefarious geopolitical reasons for its constant desire for war. We don’t know what they are but we understand the goal behind them which is to perpetuate US control of most of the World. The US is learning very slowly but surely that its domination of the planet is slipping and it is because of its own brutality and inhumanity to the peoples of the Earth. Sure the US has nuclear weapons and is the only country to have ever used them on the civilians of another nation, but unless it is willing to unleash a nuclear war on the World, its ability to change things resided in its soft power and unfortunately, it has thoroughly squandered that. When a nation shows the World that its word and the treaties it has signed mean nothing that its soft power goes out the window.

Zuesse writes: “The U.S. and its allies will then use that incident as a supposed justification for invading Syria as a ‘humanitarian’ response to a chemical attack allegedly by Syria’s Government, but actually done by U.S.-backed forces.”

Sounds like Uncle $cam is acting out Einstein’s classic example of insanity: Endlessly repeating the Novijoke and constantly expecting applause”.

It’s clearly a tense moment. Will the US commit to all out war? They’d be very afraid of losing badly unless they really plan on the nuclear option; the military have favoured that many times in the past. Usually the US prefers others to do the dirty work – step forward Netanyu, apparently he’s got a big Americsn bill to pay! Thank goodness there is one sane man at the top table – but it’s a big responsibility for Putin. Let’s wish him well!

My worry is that psychos know their empire is past the peak of impunity for its actions and that it has to find a way to destroy the capability of rising rivals if it is to continue. Putin and the diplomatic team he has charged with delivering a message of mutual respect and broad spectrum cooperation,as opposed to US servile hegemony, is the greatest threat as it is fast uniting the whole of Asia against Zionist Usurped Wahington. Russia alone in this world has the nuclear arsenal to thwart any sane commander from escalating to the point where a nuclear exchange is inevitable. Unfortunately the pigs in Washington seem patently insane. They are also inept and have let corporate corruption essentially undermine their technical dominance. They are akin to a fat lazy bully used to beating the weak and defenceless with a club who finds himself face to face with a katana wielding ninja. Putin knows he has the ability to win through with a sane adversary, this makes it a huge gamble. The Russian fleet in the Med as it is the biggest statement of intent Putin has ever made. I can almost hear the cogs on the doomsday clock taking us to midnight.

Tehran reportedly plans to send its newest fighter jet, the Kowsar, which was presented in August 2018, and the missile defense system Bavar 373, which was presented in 2016 and is described as an analogue to the Russian S-300

Any full-scale attack on Syria will place Israel under risk of retaliatory strikes from both Syria and Hezbollah. It must be remembered that given that America [ie, the U$ regime] places a greater priority on Israel’s security than its own [peoples], it will always be highly improbable that America [ie, the Anglo Zio Capitalists who own88 the U$A] will deliberately undertake military action that puts Israel’s neck on the chopping board. Furthermore, at this very sensitive period, any such escalation may justify a bigger role for Iran. It is not likely that Trump will take such a risk, even if by not doing so he will aggravate the neo-cons of the Deep State. To this effect, the death of John McCain is a blessing in disguise that has landed on Trump’s lap during this critical time.

Furthermore, a major escalation with Syria can potentially put American naval vessels in the Mediterranean in danger. America does not know what Syrian defences have up their sleeve or what state-of-the-art defence hardware has been provided to them by the Russians. We have recently seen Syrian ground-to-air defences rising to the occasion. Have ground-to-sea defence systems been upgraded as well?”

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